Going to be very hard to concentrate on music after watching a match like that.
So, after a good nights sleep and a morning spent in the sunshine watering fresh grass seed and finishing the pressure washing of some coping stones I went for a solo walk; had a coffee and decided the moment had come to do a little music listening and then replace my 5m to the wireless bridge with the C-Stream which was the subject of this thread back before some interesting diversions arose.
Worked through 3 different tracks a few times so I had some basic recall of key aspects and then made the switch andā¦ first impressions are that it has made a significant and positive difference. Interestingly my initial set up of cheap wireless bridge straight into the Zenith, noise and all, was more engaging than the cheap 5m run. The latter had a hard edge. Not harsh, but on the edge of that.
The Chord has introduced an engaging warmth whilst simultaneously removing a layer of hash which gives me back that wonderful lyrical clarity where words become somehow easier to follow and the PRaT goes up. I initially thought that the gain in lyrical clarity was perhaps at the expense of accuracy and engagement. Iām now thinking thatās very much not the case.
Listening to Phoebe Bridgers version of That Funny Feeling by Bo Burnham and realising thereās (cliche alert) layers of instrumentation I had missed and the vocal was far more effective than Iād first thought.
These things take time so I donāt want to leap to too many conclusions, having apparently leapt to half a dozen immediately :), but this is very promising indeed. Further reports as I listen through the week.
Has it got you dancing yet?
No dancing but lots of interesting listening. For the first time since I sold the CDX2 on I have the mid range warmth I mentioned as lacking many times in my old āEnd of my tetherā thread. Itās an addictive thing. More thoughts to come. Initial impressions are indeed positive.
Glad to see your initial impressions of the C-stream are positive, for you.
Still listening. The positives seem clear enough. I would say there are some negatives so far though.
What negs are your hearing?
Most obvious ones so far are that vocals are less real/raw i.e. slightly more processed. At high volumes the lyrical clarity is excellent but the vocals themselves are slightly recessed in the presentation.
I find that with Chord Cables in general, the lack of realism in vocals vs Naim cables for instance. I am probably alone though. They sound great just not quite as real as with Naim. I have tried up to Music btw but not streaming cables.
That was how I found all CAT6 cables on my ND5XS, initially impressive but longer listening was a tad fatiguing, sometimes with exaggerated sibilance.
Weirdly, thatās the exact opposite of what Iāve found. For me, one of the key attractions of Chord streaming cables is their ability with vocals, making them more real.
After reading this Iāve just swapped out my blue jean cable with a chord cstream I had lying around between my ansuz and zenith. Initial impressions are positive but Iāll leave it in for a few days and compare
Iām loathe to pass any final judgements a mere 3 days in but I will say that, at this point, the cable is staying on the basis that itās clearly a very general improvement on the no name Ā£20 thing I had in before. Itās a balanced, across the board improvement which justifies the relatively small outlay.
I do think that what itās doing with the vocals is very attractive but thatās not the same as accurate. These things are all in the ears of the beholder of course so the qualifier here is always going to be āā¦ to meā.
In my system, the most obvious negative effect with shielded ethernet cable was between the switch and wall socket in our living room (where the music system is). With shielded cable here you connect the whole music system to the long ethernet cable run inside walls running to the breaker board. Even bulk cat6a cable was clearly better than Chord C-Line or Melco here. Surprisingly though, between the switch and Linn ADSM the short 75cm C-Line which was supplied with EE8 was slightly better than BJC Cat6a. The difference was smaller though.
Well, installed the Silent Angel Forester F1, connected to English Electric 8 switch. I have only had a short listen, so far, after letting F1 stabilise over 24 hours. I can say, most definitely, that there is a difference. I can easily tell this, by simply listening to Radio Paradise. When Bill makes an announcement, the timbre of his voice is changed from Iāam used to listening to. There seem more air around his announcement, giving more of a clue to his surroundings. Briefly listening to music, voice improves strongly, easier to follow bass sounds, uplift in presence. It seems to compliment the gains of the Chord C-Stream. Will report more, if changes occur over time.
Oh yes, nearly forgot, most importantly - still dancing.
Thank you @GraemeH, for the heads up about the Chord C-Stream and Silent Angel Forester F1. Best advice I have had on here, since @anon4489532 gave me the 272 advice.
I use iFi iPower2 with my EE8. There is a difference compared to the stock smps. With iFi thereās better clarity while stock psu sounds slightly grey and boring in comparison. The differences arenāt big though.
Really pleased the combination works for you @NoNaim. Different networks seem to be quite fickle in their interaction with cables and equipment in-situ.
G
Couple of days in and the chord is a small improvement in my system over my blue jean cable. Slightly more space around instruments, the space between notes is more obvious and a nicer timbre. Itās not a huge difference and itās one I couldnāt hear when my switch was the EE8 switch so others may find different. Iāll switch it back out in a week or two and see if miss it
Today I moved the wall plug for the F1 from the ring main socket and plugged it into my Isol8 Powerline Axis block which is on a hifi dedicated circuit.
I hadnāt wanted to plug the EE8 SMPS into the Isol8, and when evaluating the F1 I thought it best to keep to the same socket to eliminate the variables.
Happy that the F1 is a gain over the SMPS I transferred it over to the Isol8ā¦further gains in textures and detail/separation which add to musical enjoyment.
G